School: Curratavy

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1. An Old Story

   

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   11th April '38
   An old story

   "Gublan Saor" was a stone mason from Co Galway. All the round towers in Ireland were supposed to be his work. He built some grand mansions in Ireland and in England. Along with being a fine tradesman he was gifted. When putting the pins in the couples he would first throw up the pins and then the hatchet to drive them. He was capable fo doing any work on a high building while on the ground. When hearing of him being such a fine tradesman a man came from England for him to erect a castle.

   When he had the castle completed another man came to him to erect another castle which would be superior to the one he had finished. The servant girl told him that the man intended to put him to death so that no other man would have as good a castle. When he had the castle finished he told the man that he wanted a certain tool and that he had to go home for it. The man he worked with would not let him go and he told him to write down the name of the tool and he would send his own son for it. The name of the tool was a Crooked against a Crook. Gublan's wife understood the meaning of the letter and she told him to stoop down in the bottom of a chest where the tool was. When she got him in the chest she closed the lid and told him that he would have to stay there until her husband would come home. He asked for a pen and ink to write to his father and tell him that he was a prisoner until Gublans would return. Then he was sent

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Folktales index

   AT0875: The Clever Peasant Girl

   Language

   English

   Informant

   John Curnyn

   Relation

   Parent

   Gender

   Male

   Address

   Corratawy, Co. Cavan